Contamination of hazardous waste site ground and surface waters has become a problem demanding great attention. The rapid industrialization of the world has led to the introduction of many pollutants into many of the world's water sources. The contamination of these sources endangers not only humans, but all life relying on these waters.
Typical water tests include those to determine pH, conductivity, temperature, dissolved oxygen, biochemical oxygen demand, chemical oxygen demand, total organic carbon, oxidation-reduction potential, total suspended solids, and turbidity. Further, it is possible to test for the presence of individual pollutants with a variety of analytical methods, including gas and ion chromatography, mass spectrometry, spectroscopy, and fiber optic technology.
These analytical methods are often cumbersome, being both time consuming to set up and run, and often requiring bulky, expensive equipment. These constraints limit the number of tests which may be run, and the locations where the testing may be conducted. Thus, these testing methods also do not normally allow for rapid identification of water pollutants and their concentrations.
No simple testing equipment or methods currently exist for detecting pollutants such as volatile chlorinated hydrocarbons in water quickly and reliably. Further, existing testing equipment and methods do not normally allow for in situ testing of the water, but require that samples be taken from the water source and transported to analytical laboratories sites.
These pollutants are often extremely dangerous humans, and they are commonly found at hazardous waste'sites. The detection limits of field methods are not always as low as laboratory methods, but they are useful to screen samples prior to confirmatory laboratory analysis. The advantage is in cost savings by limiting the number of samples sent for laboratory analysis.